Greetings from
NeuroDimension!
Makers of NeuroSolutions,
the Neural Network Simulation Environment.
This issue of the
newsletter highlights the many facets of product development at NeuroDimension,
including courses, updates, tips, and solutions for users of NeuroDimension
products.
In this issue you’ll find:
What’s News?
* New Neural Network Course Offering
* TradingSolutions Customer Center Enhancements
* NeuroDimension Is Hiring
* TradingSolutions v1.0 Build 000727 Available
* Data Segmentation Feature of the File Component
* Custom Batch for Auto-Lagging Inputs in NeuroSolutions for Excel
Products and Events
of Interest
Note: You are receiving this newsletter because you requested to stay informed concerning new developments at NeuroDimension. If you would like to stop receiving these newsletters, please see the bottom of this newsletter for removal instructions.
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What’s News?
NeuroDimension has scheduled a new course offering for November 13-17, 2000 in Orlando, Florida at the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites across from the Universal Studios theme parks.
Our course format allows both novice and advanced users to find a suitable course. Offered courses include: "Introduction to NeuroSolutions", "Fundamentals of Neural Networks and NeuroSolutions", and "Advanced NeuroSolutions".
The courses include a copy of our interactive book, Neural and Adaptive Systems: Fundamentals Through Simulations. We are also happy to work with attendees who would like to use their own data in the sample projects. Sign-up early to receive a 10% early registration discount.
For details on this new offering, or to sign-up from the Internet, see http://www.nd.com/course/nov_2000.htm
For general ND course information, see http://www.nd.com/course
For more information and samples of the interactive book, see http://www.nd.com/products/nsbook.htm
The TradingSolutions Customer Center has been enhanced to provide better support for licensed TradingSolutions users. The Suggestion Box has been completely rewritten to allow licensed users to vote for the enhancements they would most like to see implemented. The Known Problems section has also been improved to provide more up-to-date information.
To visit the new Suggestion Box from the TradingSolutions web site, select Licensed Users from the Customer Center and enter your login information.
The TradingSolutions web site is located at http://www.tradingsolutions.net
NeuroDimension, Inc. is now hiring qualified engineers to work on phase II of our development of a neural network controlled ventilator. Interested parties are encouraged to visit the NeuroDimension web site for more information on this position and previous work on this project.
For information on this position, see http://www.nd.com/employment.htm
For information on phase I of this project, see http://www.nd.com/ventilator/
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Product Upgrade Announcement
TradingSolutions is our
new software product that helps you make better trading decisions by combining
traditional technical analysis with state-of-the-art artificial intelligence
technologies. It allows you to use any combination of financial indicators in
conjunction with advanced neural networks and genetic algorithms to create
models that are remarkably effective, especially in today's volatile markets.
TradingSolutions Build 000727 fixes several minor problems
experienced in the initial release of the evaluation version. These include:
* Adding
the ability to self-pace the animated demos for machines without sound.
* Adding
the ability to import the sample data in countries that do not use a period as
a decimal separator.
*
Fixed demo unexpectedly pausing on 800x600 displays with large fonts.
*
Clarification of the software activation process.
This build also adds new
functionality and fixes other minor problems in the activated software. For information
on upgrading to the most recent build, as well as a complete list of the changes
made in these builds, see http://www.tradingsolutions.net/download/updates.html
You can determine the current
version and build of your TradingSolutions installation by selecting About TradingSolutions
from the Help menu.
For more information on
TradingSolutions and downloading a FREE
evaluation copy, visit http://www.tradingsolutions.net
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When you create a neural network with the NeuralWizard, there is the option to segment a single data file into Training, Cross Validation, and Testing data sets. The NeuralWizard does this by changing the segmentation settings of the File component. It is useful to understand these setting so that you can make modifications to the data sets without having to re-create the breadboard from the NeuralWizard.
To change the segmentation for a particular data set, select that data set from the “File List” page of the File inspector and click the “Customize” button. If you want to use the entire file as the data set, then uncheck the “Segment” switch. Otherwise, this switch should be checked. Enter in the number of exemplars (rows) of data to skip within the “Offset” edit box. This is usually the number of exemplars contained within the previous data sets for the data file. For the “Duration”, enter in the number of exemplars contained within the specified data set. Note that whatever changes you make to the input File component, you will want to repeat for the desired File component so the data sets match between the two.
Another use of the segmentation setting of the File component is to shift the input data ahead by a number of samples and use it as the desired signal, usually for the purpose of time series prediction. The NeuralWizard does this automatically when the “Predict” switch is set from the “Training Data” panel of the NeuralWizard.
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If you want to use a static neural network (such as a multilayer perceptron) for time series prediction, you will usually want to input multiple lags of each input variable into the neural network. During each instant in time, the neural network would then know what the time series has done for the last N samples in time. It is important for the neural network to have this history in order to make more accurate future projections.
We have created a custom batch for NeuroSolutions for Excel (Lag Column) that allows you to automatically create lags of a column of data in NeuroSolutions for Excel. You simply select a column, run the Lag Column batch, and choose the number of lags to create. The lagged columns are created starting in the first empty column. These columns can then be tagged and used as inputs to a neural network.
You can download this custom batch from our web site at http://www.nd.com/newsletter/files/LagColumn.zip
Follow these steps to use the Lag Column batch:
1. Launch NeuroSolutions for Excel.
2. Open LagColumn.xls.
3. Copy your data into this workbook.
4. Select the column of data you want to lag.
5. From the NeuroSolutions menu, select Preprocess Data then click Run Batch.
6. Select the Lag Column batch then click OK.
7. Enter the number of lags to create then click OK.
Note: This batch can also be moved to the Code Workbook so it is accessible from any workbook you open or create. Use the Batch Manager in the NeuroSolutions menu to move the batch’s module. To move the batch’s form, you will need to open the Visual Basic editor and move it to the NSPreferences.xls workbook manually.
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NeuroDimension supports the 2001 WSES International Conference on Neural Networks and Applications (NNA'01) that will be held in Puerto De La Cruz, Tenerife, Canary Islands -- February 11-15, 2001. Visit http://www.worldses.org/wses/nna or email to nna@worldses.org for more information.
Have an event or product you would like to announce? Contact us at submissions@nd.com.
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We appreciate your feedback! Please send us your comments or
suggestions concerning this newsletter, our web site, or part of the
NeuroDimension product line. Write to us at: feedback@nd.com
Have questions about NeuroDimension products or training services? Send your questions to: info@nd.com
This issue and previous issues of this newsletter are available on the NeuroDimension web site at: http://www.nd.com/mailinglist.htm
If you would prefer not to receive these newsletters or subsequent product updates from NeuroDimension, please reply to this letter with the subject heading changed to the word REMOVE.
Thank you again for your support of NeuroDimension products!